Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for remote sensing using optical angular momentum (OAM)-based spectroscopy. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to remote sensing using optical angular momentum (OAM)-based spectroscopy for detecting lateral motion of a remote object.
Description of the Related Art
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object. In some instances, remote sensing enables collection of data related to a remote object, even when the remote object is located in areas that may be dangerous or inaccessible. Accordingly, remote sensing is vital to an array of important scientific, environmental and social safety and security applications.
Typical remote sensing methods fail to obtain translational motion (e.g., linear movement of an object, lateral movement of an object in a two-dimensional Cartesian plane, etc.) and/or high resolution spatial feature information about the remote object. For example, Light Detection and Range (LIDAR)-based systems, in which employ light intensity to identify distance-based information, uses only time-domain information (e.g., the travel time of an electromagnetic signal directed to and reflected from the remote object) to determine position, while frequency shifts in the detected signal may infer object velocity and direction with respect to a detector (e.g., whether the remote object is moving toward or away from the detector). However, time-domain information does not provide translational motion, such as horizontal and/or vertical motion, of the remote object. Other multi-beam motion and gesture recognition systems require multiple parallel optical beams, and only detect rotational aspects of motion and/or structure, and not translational and/or lateral motion.
The ability to overcome these limitations and perform translational motion detection and/or edge detection would provide advantages to a range of important remote sensing applications, including LIDAR/RADAR-based systems, vehicle surveillance, gesture recognition systems, robotics, infrastructure monitoring, astronomy, etc.